Samuel Clemens (1835-1910), also
known as Mark Twain, was of course the product of many influences,
some of the most important of which were women. Throughout his
career, women provided him with emotional, moral, and literary
guidance. I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of the
women in Clemens's life and see how their influence manifested itself
in his works, mainly by looking at the fictional female characters
and their roles in romance and reform. In presenting each of the
figures, I have singled out relevant information that will easily
enable you to find similarities between the various figures and draw
your own conclusions about their influences. Within the dynamic web
of relationships, you can begin to find some very intriguing and
justifiable correlations. You can either start with the real women or
jump into the fictional ones.